Oakland scores four in the sixth, blanks Orioles 5-0

Within the span of a few minutes in the last of the sixth inning, a one-run game turned into a five-run lead for the Oakland A's. One curious decision and two badly executed pitches cost the Orioles dearly in that frame as Oakland beat the Orioles 5-0. The Orioles are 1-1 on this road trip and fall to 54-52 for the season.

They are now one game behind Toronto for the second American League wild card berth and 6 1/2 games back of the first-place New York Yankees in the AL East.

Leading 1-0, Oakland quickly moved ahead 5-0 in the sixth. With one out and Billy Butler on second after a leadoff double, Miguel Gonzalez threw an 0-2 pitch high but down the middle that Brett Lawrie crushed for an RBI triple, ending Gonzalez's night.

Chaz Roe came on and fanned Mark Canha. With two outs, he was asked to intentionally walk No. 8 batter Eric Sogard, a .246 hitter with no homers, to face No. 9 batter Marcus Semien and go righty pitcher against righty batter. Semien foiled that strategy, hitting an 0-1 hanging slider from Roe for a three-run homer and 5-0 lead. It was Semien's 10th home run.

The Orioles, meanwhile, could not get anything going against right-hander Chris Bassitt. He threw seven scoreless innings on five hits, with two walks and seven strikeouts. Bassitt is 1-4 with an ERA of 2.64. Bassitt threw 104 pitches, 65 for strikes. Fernando Rodriguez pitched the eighth and Fernando Abad the ninth to complete a seven-hitter. This was Oakland's 14th shutout.

The Orioles had scored 32 runs their previous five games and 53 the last 10. But, they got shut out for the first time since July 3 and seventh time for the season. The Orioles went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Jonathan Schoop went 2-for-4 with a double, and is 8-for-14 (.571) during a four-game hitting streak. However, the O's streak of hitting a homer ended at 10 consecutive games as they were blanked by the team with the best ERA in the AL.

These teams will play the third and deciding game of this series on Wednesday afternoon at 3:35 ET when Wei-Yin Chen (5-6, 3.24 ERA) faces right-hander Kendall Graveman (6-7, 3.84 ERA).